


Making Mistakes

by atleast3letterslong



Series: Haikyuu!! Rarepair Week [4]
Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Baking, Fluff, M/M, Senpai-Kouhai Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-29
Updated: 2015-03-29
Packaged: 2018-03-20 09:02:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,937
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3644502
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atleast3letterslong/pseuds/atleast3letterslong
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>For hq!! rarepair week Day 5- mistakes.</p><p>AU in which Hinata and Bokuto are aspiring bakers who learn that sometimes making a mistake or two is a good thing</p>
            </blockquote>





	Making Mistakes

The school was quiet. The normal hustle and bustle of the day had long faded away as the students moved from classrooms to club activities to home. Outside the window of the teaching kitchen the setting sun cast an orange glow across the stainless steel countertops and squat rows of ovens. The room was deserted save for one. At the oven closest to the window a short boy with hair orange enough to rival the sunset was crouched, looking through the clear glass oven door with intense determination. 

He remained like this for several minutes until a rather large, but not unwelcome, disturbance appeared at the doorway. The disturbance came in the form of a taller, older boy with large, heavy-lidded eyes and silver and black hair standing straight up.

"Yo~ Hinata! What are you doing here so late?" He called as he approached the figure in front of the oven. Hinata turned to him abruptly and waved his hands back and forth in front of his face.

"Shhhhh! Be quiet!" He whispered not-so-quietly. "I've got a soufflé in the oven." Bokuto made a lip-zipping motion and situated himself next to Hinata to watch the cooking pastry.

Through the square glass window of the oven Bokuto could see a small green ramekin. Inside the ramekin was a dark, unmoving lump. The two watched for a few more minutes before Bokuto spoke up.

"It doesn't seem to be doing much." he remarked. Hinata flopped back onto his butt and began vigorously ruffling his already messy hair. 

He made a noise of frustration. "I just can't get the hang of soufflés!" He exclaimed. "I know they are supposed to be all fuuuuwaaa," he brought his hands up dramatically past his head, "but no matter what I do mine are all bwuuu," he finished, curling up into himself as though to imitate the failed dessert.

Laughing, Bokuto ruffled Hinata's hair and straightened up. On the prep station next to the oven there was an oven mitt patterned with small black cats. Bokuto snatched it up and went to remove the green ramekin. Upon pulling it out and looking for a place to set it down, he noticed a small army of multi-colored ramekins off to the side- all of which had similar contents. He placed it down with the other attempts and then turned to reach out a hand to Hinata.

"Today's your lucky day!" He said with a smile. "Because you have one of Tokyo's top four high school bakers here to help!" 

Hinata accepted Bokuto's hand and allowed him to pull him to his feet. "Alright!" He exclaimed. "With Bokuto-senpai helping I'll definitely figure out the problem!

"That's the spirit! Just start over from scratch and I'll watch and tell you where you go wrong."

Hinata headed for a shelf of clean supplies. He grabbed the top two bowls from a precarious stack of mixing bowls, a clean ramekin- purple this time, and a fresh, slightly misshapen, whisk. Bokuto hopped up onto the counter opposite Hinata's work space and started to observe.

Hinata set to work melting chocolate and separating eggs and adding ingredients, all the while feeling oddly self-conscious. He was used to being watched while he baked- teacher evaluation was an important part of the cooking track's curriculum after all. This time it felt different though. Instead of feeling shaky and nervous he felt sort of warm and wobbly.

They continued on this way for a short while- Hinata trying his best to prepare the soufflé batter while ignoring whatever strange new feeling was presenting itself, and Bokuto watching carefully and intently.

Finally, as Hinata was whisking the egg whites, Bokuto hopped down from his perch. Hinata kept his eyes set on the bowl and his whisk, but felt Bokuto's approach as a warmth at his side that caused the hairs on his arm to stand up. Bokuto monitored Hinata's whisking for a minute more and then nodded to himself. Bokuto gently placed one of his hands on the hand Hinata was using to grip and move the whisk. Startled by the sudden contact, Hinata dropped the bowl, and then fumbled his attempt to catch it. Bokuto's reflexes kicked in and he used his free hand to catch the bowl from underneath and guide it back into Hinata's hands.

"Sorry Bokuto-senpai!" Hinata said, his entire face flushed.

"Don't worry about it! Those bowls are slippery sometimes!" He winked. "Anyways I figured it out! Watch."

Hinata did. No matter how many times he watched Bokuto cook he couldn't help but get excited. Bokuto cooked beautifully in general, but he moved with a special sort of grace in his baking. He expertly cracked a couple eggs with one hand and fluidly separated out the yolks from the whites. Taking the bowl of whites with one hand and a whisk in the other he set to work. His hand seemed to move effortlessly at a speed Hinata could only dream of achieving. Hinata was glad Bokuto was focused on the task of whisking- otherwise he might have seen how hopelessly enraptured his kohai was.

After whisking for a few minutes Bokuto stopped. He placed his bowl on the counter next to Hinata's and gestured. 

"What is the difference?" He asked. Hinata took a moment to examine the two bowls.

"Mine is much more stiffer." he replied. 

"Bingo!" Bokuto said. "If you beat the egg whites too much then they can't expand as well and the soufflé doesn't rise. You want to make sure they are stiff but not too stiff- balance is key!"

After trying several more times Hinata was finally able to obtain the properly firm-yet-soft peaks Bokuto modeled for him. He finished off the recipe and poured the soufflé mixture into the ramekin. Once this was done, Bokuto reached out and began ruffling Hinata's hair. 

"Awesome job! Now, I'm going to teach you my super special finishing move!" He exclaimed.

"Uwohhh! Teach me, teach me!" Hinata was practically vibrating with excitement.

"You see, when you've poured the mixture into the ramekin, and it seems like everything is done and all that is left is the baking, there is one more step you can take to really finish things off." He took his finger and lightly traced a circle into the outside edges of the mixture. "If you do that then when it rises it will be nice and even and pretty looking! It's a real good trick for making your soufflé stand out in baking competitions and such."

They put the soufflé in the oven and went back to their original positions of watching and waiting. As they once again observed through the small oven window they saw the soufflé ever so slowly start to puff up and rise. When they had finally determined that it was cooked enough they pulled it out and set it on the stovetop to admire. 

"It's perfect!" Hinata exclaimed.

"You did a really nice job! You are a fast learner!" Bokuto replied.

"No way! It was probably just a fluke. I'll probably end up making mistakes again next time I try."

"The secret to good baking is making mistakes! That's how you learn!" Bokuto said. "Now come on, this soufflé isn't going to eat itself. Let's see if it tastes as good as it looks!"

 

 

The bathroom was quiet. The building was full to the brim with students and judges and parents. The baking competition had just ended and so everyone was bustling off to their cars and trains and buses. The hallways were crowded and very noisy, but the bathroom was quiet. Quiet save for an ever so soft sniffling. 

The door to the bathroom swung open with a little too much vigor and banged loudly against the wall. Hinata ran into the bathroom and called out.

"Bokuto-senpai?? Are you in here?" He quieted down, waiting for a reply. If he hadn't been listening so hard he might have missed it, but he was listening hard so he did hear it- a quiet sniffling coming from the stall at the end. 

Hesitantly, Hinata approached the end stall. If he was wrong and it was someone else he would feel embarrassed, but Akaashi had told him that Bokuto always sulked in bathrooms and he was his best friend and so probably knew best. Rapping his knuckles gently on the door to the stall he tried again.

"Bokuto-senpai are you in here? If you are someone else let me know so I can leave you alone. Also sorry if you are someone else." Again he waited. The latch to the door clicked open and the door slowly opened to reveal Bokuto's owlish face. 

His eyes stood out even more than usual, as they were puffy and red. He wasn't actively crying but his eyes and tearstained cheeks gave him away. Refusing to meet Hinata's eyes he turned his dejected face down to the floor.

"I'm sorry Hinata. I'm sorry I'm a failure as a senpai and as a baker." he mumbled.

"You aren't a failure!" Hinata said.

"Yes I am! What kind of idiot am I if I can't even properly temper chocolate?" He moved to close the stall door again but Hinata managed to stick his foot in the crack and prevent it from being closed all the way.

"It was just a mistake." Hinata said with a gentleness he wasn't aware he possessed. "Weren't you the one who told me that the secret to good baking is making mistakes? That's how you learn, right?" He put his face up to the crack and smiled. "I still think you are super cool."

"Really?" Bokuto asked, allowing the door to open once again. 

"Really really!" Hinata exclaimed. "You are the coolest senpai in the whole world and the awesomest baker in the whole school and the handsomest guy in all of Tokyo!" Hinata slapped a hand over his mouth, realizing he might have revealed more than he intended to.

"You really think so?" Bokuto let the door open completely and met Hinata's eyesight for the first time. "The handsome thing I mean."

"Yeah! I mean you are so bwahhh and gwahhh and every time I see you my heart feels so gahhhh and you are so cool even when you are sulking or making mistakes because every part of you is cool and awesome and aaaahhh do I sound like an idiot??"

"No! You are amazing too!" Bokuto grabbed Hinata's hands with both of his hands. "You have so much skill for someone with so little practical experience and you are so good at learning and you are so adorable and even though I don't understand everything you say it's still super cute and watching you get better every time you make something new is one of the best things ever!"

A slightly awkward silence filled the space after Bokuto's declaration. Maintaining eye-contact despite their red faces and clasped hands, the two of them were frozen, unsure what to do next.

"Chocolate soufflé!" Bokuto exclaimed.

"Chocolate soufflé?" Hinata asked.

"I think the kitchens upstairs are probably empty right now." Bokuto said. "Let's go make some!"

"Yeah!" Hinata exclaimed. "And if the first one doesn't turn out I'll make one more." 

Bokuto laughed "Even if the first one turns out good you'll still say 'one more' 'one more'." 

"It's because baking is so fun!" Hinata changed positions slightly so that he and Bokuro were only attached at one hand.

"Mistakes and all?" Bokuto asked, flashing a crooked smile.

Hinata smiled back brightly and swung their clasped hands back and forth. "Mistakes and all."


End file.
